Type wheel



Jan. 25, 1938. c. A. PUTNAM ET AL 2,106,306

TYPE WHEEL Filed April 15, 1957 lnvenTors. Claude APuTnQm Charles F. Robbins byfia/wl A ya.

Patented Jan. 25, 1938 i UNHTED STATES TYPE WHEEL Claude A. Putnam and Charles F. Robbins,

Keene, N. H., assignors to Markem Machine Company, Keene, N. H., a corporation of New Hampshire Application April 13, 1937, Serial No. 136,565

2 Claims.

This invention relates to type wheels of the kind illustrated in U. S. Patent No. 1,498,751, dated June 24, 1924, and it has for its object to provide certain improvements in type wheels of 5 this character which will be more fully hereinafter set forth.

The type wheels to which this invention relates are used in marking machines such as are shown in U. S. Patents No. 1,131,865, March 16,

1915, No. 1,261,163, April 2, 1918, No. 1,365,062, January 11, 1921 and No. 1,974,753, September 24, 1934.

The type wheels in these marking machines are made with radially extending arms or pro- 5 jections, each carrying at its end a type character, and the type wheels in any marking machine can be independently adjusted to bring any type member into printing position by means of a manually operative toothed setting wheel which 90 can be manipulated to bring the teeth thereof into mesh with the arms or projections of any type wheel so that after the setting wheel has been thus brought into operative engagement with any type wheel the rotation of the setting wheel will turn the type wheel.

The type wheel shown in the above mentioned Patent No. 1,498,751 is formed with a portion having a plurality of radial type-carrying arms or projections and type members secured to the 30 ends of the arms, each type member bearing a type character. Each arm of the body portion is provided at its end with a groove extending in a circumferential direction and each type member is seated on the end of a projection 35 and is formed with a fin which is received in said groove, provision being made for retaining each type member in position while at the same time permitting any type member to be removed from its supporting arm and to be replaced by 40 another type member.

In the operation of adjusting the type members the teeth of the setting wheel mesh with the projections on the type wheel and have frictional engagement with the edges of such pro- 45 jections as the setting wheel is turned. The type members are usually made of hardened steel but the body portion of the type wheel is made of brass or bronze or of some similar material which is not so hard as the hardened steel of 50 the type members. The frictional engagement of the teeth of the setting wheel with the side edges of the type-carrying projections during continued use of the machine causes a wearing away of said side edges with the result that after 55 a time the operation of the setting wheel will not produce an accurate adjustment of the type wheel.

To avoid this we have provided a construction wherein the side edges of the fin of each type member, which is of hardened steel and stands flush with the edges of the projection on which the type member is supported. With this arrangement the wear between the teeth of the setting wheel and the projections of the type wheel comes on the edges of the hardened steel 10 fin and not on the softer material of the typecarrying projections.

In order to give an understanding of the invention we have illustrated in the drawing a selected embodiment thereof which will now be described after which the novel features will be pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side view of the type wheel embodying our invention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective View of one of the typecarrying projections of the type wheel with the type member removed Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the type member in place;

Fig. 4 is a view of one of the type members.

The type wheel herein shown comprises a body portion I which is formed on its peripheral portion with a plurality of radial type-carrying arms or projections 2 each of which is adapted to support a type member 3. It will be understood, of course, that each type member has a type character 4 on its outer face.

These type members 3 are separable from the supporting arms 2 and are secured thereto in the manner illustrated in said Patent No. 1,498,751, according to which each type-carrying arm 2 is formed with a slot 5 extending in a peripheral direction and the type member 3 is provided with a fin 6 which fits the slot. The body of each type member 3 seats against the end of the supporting arm 2 and preferably has the same size and shape as said arm.

Each type member is retained in position by a pin 9 in the manner illustrated in the above mentioned Patent No. 1,498,751.

A portion of the setting wheel by which the type wheel is adjusted is indicated at H), said setting wheel having the teeth ll of a shape to fit the space between adjacent type-carrying arms or projections 2. In the construction herein shown the side edge 12 of each type-carrying arm 2 is concavely curved and the teeth ll of the setting wheel have a shape to fit this curvature. The accuracy with which each type wheel is set depends upon having an accurate fit between the teeth I I of the setting wheel and the projections 2 of the type wheel.

In accordance with our present invention the slots 5 in the type-carrying projections or arms 2 extend to the bottom of the arms and the fin 6 of each type-carrying member has a radial dimension substantially equal to the depth of the slot, while said fin is so shaped that its side edges I3 have the same concave shape as the sides I2 of the corresponding type-carrying member and come flush with said sides. As a result the surface of each arm or projection 2 with which a tooth II of the setting wheel contacts is made up partially of the edge I3 of the fin of the hardened steel type member and partially of the edge I2 of the type-carrying arms 2. Thus the edges I3 of the fins provide a hardened wear surface at the sides I2 of the type-carrying projections 2 which resist any wear occasioned by the frictional engagement of the setting teeth II with said projections 2. With this arrangement, therefore, the type wheels will not show any appreciable wear even after long usage and they will be accurately set by the operation of the setting wheel.

We claim.

1. A type wheel having a body portion formed on its periphery with a plurality of radial typecarrying projections, each having a slot extending in a circumferential direction, a type member seated on the end of each projection and having a fin fitting the slot therein, and means to secure each type member to its projection, the edges of the fin of each type member being flush with the edges of the projection on which it is mounted and said fins being made of harder material than the body portion, whereby the edges of the fins present wear-resisting surfaces at the edges of the projections to receive the wear on said edges due to the action of the setting wheel in setting the type wheel.

2. A marking machine comprising a type wheel having a body portion formed on its periphery with a plurality of radial type-carrying projections, each having a slot extending in a circumferential direction, a type member seated on the end of each projection and having a fin fitting the slot therein with the edges of the fins conforming in contour with the edges of the projections and coming flush therewith, means to secure each type member to its projection, and a setting wheel having teeth meshing with the projections for setting the type wheel, said fins being made of harder material than the body portion and the edges of the fins presenting wear surfaces to receive the wear of the teeth of the setting wheel.

C. F. ROBBINS. CLAUDE A. PUTNAM. 

